ROYAL WEDDING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 21, 6 November 1935, Page 3

ROYAL WEDDING

THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.

HIS CAREER IN THE ARMY. Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King George V. and Queen Mary, was born on March 31, 1901. At an early age he decided on a military career, and at Eton joined the army class, from which he passed direct into Sandhurst by examination. Taller and stronger than his two elder brothers, he devoted himself to outdoor sports, especially cricket and long-distance running, taking up polo and hunting later. From Sandhurst he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. In August, 1920, he was gazetted a second-lieutenant of the King’s Royal Rifles, and later became second-lieu-tenant in the 10th Hussars, in which he had risen by March, 1926, to the rank of captain. The King stipulated that the prince should be promoted in the ordinary way, and should not enjoy any special privileges. He had therefore to perform all the duties of his rank and take a full share in the work of the .regiment, so that up to 1927 he appeared much less in public than the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. His desire is for a career like that of the Duke of Connaught, in which he would rise to the highest rank in the army. Like the Prince of Wales, he is fond of cross-country riding, and was the first of the King’s sons to win a point-to-point race. This was in the First Cavalry Brigade Steeplechase in the spring of 1921, when he won the infantry cup against 12 other riders few days later the Prince of Wales won a similar success," but Prince Henry is regarded as by far the better rider of the two. He is also the best polo player in the Royal Family, almost reaching the international standard. When he came of age, he had the Older of the Garter bestowed on him. In 1925 he was made a member of the Privy Council. H e i s al so High Steward of King’s Lynn, a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and a freeman of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. On March 31, 1928, when he was 27, the King conferred on him the titles of Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Ulster, and Baron Culloden. The previous Duke of Gloucester died in 1834. The Duke went to East Africa on a. shooting expedition in 1928, going through Kenya and Tanganyika into Northern Rhodesia. Early in 1929 he visited Japan to convey the insignia of the Order of the Garter to the Emperor, and received the Grand Ordei of the Chrysanthemum. Op his way back he broke his collarbone duiing a game of polo in Vancouver in June. The Duke went to Abyssinia in 1930 to represent the King at the coionation of the Emperor. Afterwards he went on a shooting trip there, ieturning to England in December. Ilis adventures in East Africa and Abyssinia were described in modest, but graphic contributions to a hook, “Big Game Shooting in Africa,” published in 1932. .. .. In October of that year he decided to close down his hunting stables at Melton Mowbray, but did not give up following the hounds. He had received the Royal Victorian Chain m June, 1932, and was made a Knight of the Thistle in June, 1933. In March, 1934, he was heavily thrown while taking a water jump at the South Oxfordshire Hunt Point-to-Pomt Races at Chippinghurst Manor, but was able to get up unaided, no bones being broken. In a few days he returned to the regiment of Lancers to which he was attached, his own .regiment, the lOtli Hussars, being in India. . It was announced in April last year, that he would go to Australia and New Zealand via Ceylon in the autumn in place of Prince George. Although, the Duke is a much-travelled prince, he had not yet seen the Australian continent. His engagements included the representation of the King at Jie centenary celebrations of the state oVictoria and visits to Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Tasmania, as well as a tour through New Zealand late in 1934 and early this year. The Duke has taken an active part in scientfiic and philanthropic work. FJarly in March, 1928, president of the Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales Council of the British Elm jure Cancer Campaign, he inaugurated a Lancashire appeal at Manchester and Liverpool. He has a quiet hut engaging manner and has many friends m all walks of life.

LADY ALICE MONTAGU-DQUGLAS-SCOTT. Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott is the fifth daughter of the late Duke of Buccleuch, and has four sisters and three brothers. Her father was Joun Charles Montagu-Douglas-Scott seventh Duke of Buccleuch and ninth ol Queensberry (Scotland). Ho also hel. the titles of Baron Scott of Buccleuch, which is over 300 years old, Earl o Doncaster, and Baron of Tynedale (England) which was conferred on his ancestor in 1662, Earl of Dalkeith, Marquis of Dumfriesshire, Earl o. Druinlanrig and Sanquhar, Viscount of Nitli, Torthonvokl and Ross, anc. Baron Douglas. He was Lord-Lieuten-ant of Dumfriesshire since 1910, and Lord Clerk-Register and Keeper of the Signet and Captain of the Royal Company of Archers. , The titles which Lady Alice s xathm held have an interesting history. Sir Walter Scott, Warden of the Vest Marches (third of the name and, second of the office) was the first Lo:o Scott of Buccleuch. His great grandfather, the first of three Sir Walters, was a daring chief, and his unsuccessful attempt to rescue King James V , from the Earl of Angus is the foundation of the story told by his namesake in the “Lay of the Last Minstrel. ■ Sir Walter,** the first Lord .Scott, carried on a predatory warfare against the English and on the conclusion of a

peaceful arrangement he was delivered up as a hostage. When he was in England he was brought before Queen Elizabeth, who imperiously demanded how ho could engage in such deeds. For once the Queen met lior match, for to this ruler who was very conscious of her position as a woman, he replied “What is there that a man dare not do ?” Struck with the reply, she turned to a Lord-in-Waiting and said “With ten thousand such men outbrother of Scotland might shake the firmest throne in Europe.” This “brother of Scotland” was James VI., who on becoming Janies I. oi England as one of his first acts made a lord of the intrepid warrior. His successor obtained the honours of 1619. The family has been linked with English Royalty before, the Countes.i fourth in line having married James, Duke of Monmouth, the natural son of Charles 11, who thereupon assumed her name and received the Dukedom of Buccleuch with the Earldom ol Dalkeith. When he was executed after his unsuccessful rebellion the titles were unaffected, being held jointly by his wife, to whom they had come by inheritance. The Queensberry Dukedom came through this line. The original name of the family, Scott, had the prefix “Montagu” added by the fourth Duke, while the fifth inserted “Douglas.” A sister of Lady Alice married Lord Burghley, the famous runner, six years ago.

PREVIOUS ROYAL MARRIAGES.

LINKS WITH -THE PEERAGE. The marriage of a Prince or Princess with one not of royal blood comes as a welcome and flattering proof that royalty are alter ail of the same iiesh and blood as ourselves. The marriage of his Royal -Highness the Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-fSeott is another example of the democratic tendencies of the day, says the “Daily Mail.” The number of Princes and Princesses of Great Britain descended from Queen Victoria who have contracted similar alliances will now be brought up to seven. The first to marry outside the charmed circle of European royalty was Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, who in March, 1871, became the bride of the Marquess of Lome, afterwards ninth Duke of Argyll. He was made an extra Ivniglit of the Thistle on the day of the marriage, and later held the important post of Governor-General of Canada. Princess Louise’s example was followed in 1889 by her niece and namesake, the eldest daughter of King Edward VII., and afterwards Princess Royal. IShe married James Duff, fifth Earl of Fife, who was raised to the dukedom two days after the marriage ceremony. As no sons were horn of this marriage, the Duke obtained in 1960 a new grant of the title with special remainder to his daughters and their heirs male, and on his death in 1912 the elder, who is now Princess Arthur of Connaught, succeeded him in the Fife title.

The younger daughter, Princess Maud, married in 1923 Lord Carnegie, the eldest son of the tenth Earl ol Southesk, and has discontinued the style of Princess, being now known as Lady Maud Carnegie. Four years previously Princess Patricia, daughter of the Duke of Connaught, became affianced to the Hon. (now Sir) Alexander Ramsay, a younger sou of the 13th Earl of Dalhousie. A Royal Warrant, dater February 25, 1919, authorised her to relinquished the stylo of Royal Highness and title of Princess, and ordained that she should be known as Lady Patricia Ramsay and have place, preeminence, and precedence immediately before marchionesses of England. In 1922 Princess Mary, as she then was, was married to Viscount Lascelles, who became Earl of Harewood on the death of his father in 1929. The Princess was the first of the children ot His Majesty King George V. to wed, and the ceremony took place m Westminster. The following year saw the marriage of the Duke of York to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and a bridesmaid at Princess Mary’s wedding. There are, therefore, several happy precedents for the Duke of Gloucester, and his action m choosing a bride of non-Royal rank. In fact the Duke of Kent’s marriage to Princess Marina last year was the first of its kind since that of Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught in 1913.